When you do research on a raising a mini pig you will most likely see something that is called "Move the Pig." Move the Pig is a proven successful way as a method to use to raise your pig with the understanding that you are the herd leader (and any other humans) and not her. Though I do practice move the pig with Winnie, there is another outlook on raising/training a mini pig that is far overlooked.
Another outlook on training that one should highly consider when raising a mini pig is positive reinforcement by getting the pig to do what we want. In other words rewarding positive behavior, that we want to see, and redirecting the negative behavior towards a positive behavior. For example, Winnie lately has been trying to nip at the dogs. Whether she is doing this as a playful baby piglet or a dominance thing, it does not matter to me I do not want to see it. For a while I was doing Move the Pig, corrections, and time out for this behavior but it just did not seem to work for Winnie, it wasn't sticking with her that I am telling her the behavior is unacceptable. So I changed my mindset. Instead of challenging her with move the pig and scolding her in an angry tone why don't I redirect her negative behavior I do not want to see towards a behavior I would rather see. So every time I saw Winnie exhibiting her behaviors that she did before she would try to nip at my dogs I would tell her Winnie no, then tell her go to your bed, and once she got in her bed I would reward her. This is telling her no for the negative behavior so she understands it is unacceptable then redirecting that behavior towards something I want to see such as her being a good girl in her bed. What this is doing is creating positive associations for good behaviors with your pig that if rewarded and consistent enough your pig will naturally start exhibiting these good behaviors because they associate them with good things (treats).
Now these positive associations do not happen overnight, in one day of using this method, or one hour. It takes extreme consistency and patience and eventually the hard work pays off. Your pig is extremely hard headed and you have to be more stubborn than your pig when it comes to staying consistent. If you get tired one day of constantly telling her no and redirecting her and give in to just letting her root or chew up something she is not allowed to then she wins and now your work starts all over from the beginning. So stay very consistent with your corrections and redirecting. For example tonight Winnie tested my patience with her because she continued to root up her rubber mat in her play pen, I would tell her no and to go to her bed to redirect her, and once she was done she would go right back into her pen and start rooting up the mat again. I had to stay very consistent and keep correcting her with no and redirecting her to a good behavior I would rather see. After what seemed like hours Winnie finally gave in and just went and laid down in her bed. She got big rewards for doing that on her! So the key to this training method is to stay very patient and very consistent. If you give a pig an inch they will take a mile.
Another key part of this training method is to reward via praise or treat for any good behavior you see your pig naturally do. If Winnie is being quiet in the kitchen while I am making or eating food, I verbally praise her so she knows that is good keep doing that. Anything I see her doing that I like I verbally praise her or give her a treat for it so she knows that is good behavior and when she acts that way she gets praise and a treat. When you do this you build in these good behaviors with your pig. Pig's are extremely food driven and if they think they are going to get a treat for doing a certain something than they will continue to do that thing. So if they think they get a treat for being quiet they will continue to be quiet because to them it means food. But this is where you have to be careful because you do not want to create a spoiled or demanding pig. That is why Winnie does not get a treat every single time she does something good. She always gets verbal praise but not always treats. I do not want her becoming demanding and a bad pig because she thinks if she acts the ways I want her to she should be getting a treat every time. If you give your pig a treat every time you see them being good then your pig will start demanding a treat for the associated behavior and become angry when she does not get one. So be careful about handing out treats. Save treats for certain extra good behaviors and just use verbal praise for those good behaviors that we expect daily. One thing I always give Winnie a treat for is when she is interacting with my 1 year old daughter. I want to create a very positive association between my daughter and Winnie and I want Winnie to be very patient with my daughter. So anytime my daughter is doing something that could be viewed as fairly annoying, putting a blanket on top of Winnie again and again and again, if Winnie is behaving wonderfully and just letting her do this I say yes Winnie good girl and give her a treat. I don't give treats for every interaction but definitely for those where my daughter is getting close to her, touching all over her, or basically bugging her. So far it has worked perfectly and Winnie lets my daughter do whatever she wants to her. I am right there at all times and I do not let my daughter pester Winnie because I do not believe that animals are dolls for children, but I let her get close to Winnie and Winnie does not run, she does not get jumpy, she is not looking and expecting a treat, she just sits perfectly still with my daughter.
One thing I want to make very clear is that I am not saying to replace Move The Pig or other corrective training methods with this method. I am still actively doing MTP and correcting Winnie with time outs for negative behavior, but I am starting to lessen the amount of time outs I do and instead redirecting her to a behavior I would rather see. I am saying to add this training method into your tool box of other methods. So still do MTP, when appropriate, and other methods but also start redirecting and rewarding for good behaviors. If you focus more on the positives and having your pig do these good behaviors then the bad, negative behaviors will eventually become a thing of the past because your pig is acting on so many good behaviors that get her rewards and praise. But that eventually of that sentence is a big eventually! This could take months, years, for the good behaviors to outweigh the bad. Your pig is a toddler and will always be doing something that you do not want her to do. The goal of this is to get them to do less of those bad things and more good things.
A key fact to remember whenever you are training a pig is your mental mindset. In MTP we are challenging the pig, which could go one of two ways your pig backs down and walks away or your pig accepts the challenge and challenges back. If you are doing MTP already angry at your pig then the energy you are giving off is very negative and could result in your pig taking that in a negative manner and actually trying to challenge you or taking it very personally creating a negative association. Try doing MTP throughout the day when you are in a good mindset just casually move your pig. Winnie does not have any real behavior issues such as aggression or trying to be the top hog, so I just move her periodically throughout the day when I am in a good positive mindset and I praise her for moving. I do not wake her up and make her move from her bed, because I want her to be in her bed right now that is a good spot. But if Winnie starts exhibiting aggressive, dominance behaviors I will start waking her up and moving her and taking MTP to a new level. But for now I feel as if what I am doing as far as MTP is enough for Winnie so we shall see. I do make her move when she is eating just so she knows the food is not hers because with a child I do not want her resource guarding (though she always eats in a closed pen). But a lot of times we are doing MTP when our pig has upset us and that is not the correct mindset you want to be in. That is why redirecting the behavior is not only teaching your pig good behaviors but it is channeling your mind to focus on training and something positive instead of the negative. When you have a positive mindset you are more successful and your pig will react better to that than a negative one.
So the key takeaways are this:
Correct your pig for bad behavior with a stern no, then redirect them to a good behavior such as go to bed, come, sit, anything you want your pig to do and to do often.
Remember your mindset whenever you are interacting with your pig and try to have a positive mindset most of the time. I know sometimes we just become completely fed up but try to stay positive and focus on positive behaviors even when doing MTP. If your pig moves that is positive.
Reward with verbal praise and sometimes treats for any good behavior you see your pig doing without being asked. This is extremely important because if our pig naturally does something good and we praise them for it, those behaviors will continue. Your goal is that you are praising your pig more than you are telling her no.
I hope this article helps you on your journey of training your pig! I am not an expert, this is all from experience.
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